Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL, LOS ANGELES
Tarikh/Date : 14/01/97
Tajuk/Title : DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT IN THE
NETWORKED WORLD
1. I would like to thank Mayor Tom Levyn, the Beverly
Hills Chamber of Commerce, and the Asia Society for
inviting me to speak on digital entertainment in the
21st Century. I hesitate to do so knowing I am in the
entertainment capital of the world. Still in a
borderless globalised village I cannot help but think
about this subject and I would like to share my musings
on this, and then listen and learn from you about where
I am right or wrong.
2. After all, many of you provide the energy that
fuels Hollywood's global power, your limitless store of
creativity. While I believe many of the entertainment
related activities carried out here will change, I think
this will always be the `creativity capital' of the
entertainment world. I believe one of the secrets of
your success has been that you have been networked long
before connectivity and networking became such big
buzzwords. It is now decades since the studios had
everything in-house; writers, actors, special effects
people, set designers, film crews, editors, producers,
and directors. Now, most of these activities are done
by independent individuals and small, specialty
companies that come together and collaborate on a
project and then go their separate ways. Each can focus
on what it does best, and together the whole can be
greater than the sum of its parts.
3. This is truly pioneering work because you really
showed the world how in a creative business, it is
better to have webs of specialists that connect and
collaborate. This business model was later used by high
technology companies like Microsoft, Intel, Netscape,
and Sun to so successfully compete against the old
industry leaders that tried to do everything themselves
with proprietary standards -- just like the old days of
the major studios before actors, producers, and
directors got smart and hired their own agents.
4. However, things have moved fast lately and the
network needs to be more widespread. Today, all content
creation is heavily concentrated within a 30 mile radius
around this hotel. This is necessary when the network
required physical relationships and people to work with.
Physical contact is now no longer necessary. We are
already seeing movies, games, and music that are largely
or completely computer-generated. And computers can
link up and work together without having to be near each
other. Through computers the dead may act once more,
making actual acting by actors quite unnecessary. On
the other hand old actors may now hold new copy rights
over their images which can now act and speak
independently. But through it all creativity not only
remains a need but will actually be a more valuable
asset.
5. The creativity of making the story and characters
come to life on the computer screen will become
especially valuable. Three dimensional games may have
software written by faceless programmers in numerous
countries who never meet each other because it is the
idea behind the game which really generates the value.
And the idea, the story, the creative thinking is here
in plenty. You have the edge and I believe you will
continue to be the major player in the IT age of
computer generated entertainment and its new offspring,
edutainment.
6. Maintaining your global dominance will probably
require you to diversify some other elements of content
creation to other cultural centres around the world.
Today's entertainment is almost entirely American in its
cultural content. The characters are American, their
problems are American, their dialogue is American. Most
of rest of the world experiences this entertainment at a
relatively superficial level. They really don't
understand a lot of the subtleties in the better
stories. Today, that may be enough because of glitz,
special effects, and high production values. I think
this is why action movies are the most popular outside
of America. But technology will soon make these
advantages disappear because digital entertainment based
on action ala Bruce Lee or Harisson Ford, special
effects etc. can be developed anywhere, and digital
action heroes will become more and more realistic.
7. As developing countries grow more affluent, they
will want more local content for their entertainment.
The clever themes developed may be universal: but Asians
will increasingly prefer entertainment that is localised
in its languages, myths, characters, music, allusions,
and locations. We are already seeing this in music and
television in Asia; sooner or later the same trend will
be visible in movies and computer games. Why is this?
Because people anywhere want to identify with what they
get entertained with and link it with their own material
aspirations. Later, as they become more secure through
their success, they will be looking for deeper
fulfilment. They know who they are and want to improve
themselves by touching something deeper than materialism
or escapism can reach. This is the realm of religion,
culture and moral values. They are searching for
meaning, and this requires a cultural context that goes
well beyond America's pop culture.
8. To stay globally dominant in the 21st century,
digital entertainment leaders should be networked with
multicultural content creation centres. The best
results will come from combining the unique types of
creativity found in such abundance in Hollywood and
Beverly Hills with the stories, symbols, myths, and
personalities of each of the major world cultures. In
Asia, the major cultures are Confucianism, Islam, and
Hinduism. Each has a rich history that can be a deep
source of new ideas for content. The technology can
allow new characters to be electronically created that
embody these ideas and touch people deeply. In digital
entertainment, there are many more ways of bringing
things to life than simply putting words in the mouths
of actors or having amazing special effects.
9. The one thing that won't change is the value of raw
creativity--in fact it will only become more precious as
the technology creates more and more channels for this
creativity to express itself. There is more of this
creativity here than anywhere else, and for that reason
I think your future is incredibly bright.
10. In Malaysia, we are working hard to create the best
environment to fulfil the promise of the Digital Age.
We call this the Multimedia Super-Corridor or `MSC'for
short. I wish to invite you to collaborate with us
because the MSC could be the perfect place to experiment
with creating the world's first multicultural content
centre for digital entertainment. The MSC will have the
necessary infrastructure, laws, and policies in what can
be described as the cultural heart of Asia. We are a
truly multicultural country where the Confucian,
Islamic, and Hindu cultures corresponding to the
Chinese, Malay and Indian races thrive, remain separate
yet somehow interact with each other. There is no
better place to connect the amazing creativity of
Hollywood with the conditions necessary to localise
digital entertainment relevant to much of Asia and the
rest of the world.
11. The Multimedia Super Corridor -- is truly a world-
first -- the careful creation of an area with the
infrastructure, laws, policies, and practices that will
enable companies to explore the Information Age without
any of the usual constraints that frustrate them. The
MSC is a 15km wide by 50 km long corridor that runs from
the world's tallest buildings in the Kuala Lumpur city
Center, southward to what will be the region's largest
airport.
12. More than two years of careful study have gone into
developing a package with four key elements that will
make the environment within the MSC special:
- First, the MSC will have the best physical
infrastructure that can be offered in the world. This
includes the intelligent Kuala Lumpur City Centre
buildings, a new airport, rapid rail links to Kuala
Lumpur, a Smart dedicated Highway, and two new
intelligent garden cities. Kuala Lumpur International
Airport which will be ready before the Commonwealth
Games in 1998 will initially have 80 gates with two
parallel runways. The airport will also become an
integrated logistic hub with the latest in IT to
facilitate movements of people and goods. The first
intelligent garden city, Putrajaya, will be our new
administrative capital where most ministries will be
relocating beginning with the Prime Minister's office in
1998. Putrajaya is Malaysia's new electronic Government
administrative centre. It will provide a balance urban
environment for 250,000 people served by state of the
art communications and transportation systems. Next
door will be Cyberjaya, a garden city designed to
provide the physical and psychological spaces needed for
productive contemplation and creativity in a relaxed
atmosphere. It will be built around the new Multimedia
University, the first phase of which will be open in
1999. Cyberjaya will provide top quality intelligent
buildings, multimedia enterprise estates, residential
housing, leisure and recreation facilities, and state of
the art supporting infrastructure. It will support a
working population of approximately 150,000 and a living
population of over 100,000.
- Second, the MSC will have the world's soft
infrastructure of supporting laws, policies and
practices. This includes a comprehensive framework of
societal and commerce-enabling cyberlaws on intellectual
property, digital signature, computer crime, distance
learning, telemedicine, and electronic Government. For
example, our new Digital Signature Act creates a
regulatory framework for verification and certification
by the authorities and severe penalties for cyber-fraud.
We will be aggressively enforcing our intellectual
property and anti-piracy laws. The set of cyberlaws
will be enacted by Parliament over the next few months.
In addition, we are developing a Multimedia Convergence
Act that will merge and update our telecommunications,
broadcasting, and information laws to reflect today's
rapid technological convergence. We hope to enact this
new law before the end of 1997. Finally, we know how
critical skilled knowledge workers are and have a series
of educational and training initiatives across the
country. All schools will be connected to the Internet
by 2000 and the Multimedia University is planned to
operate in partnership with MSC companies to ensure its
graduates meet their skill requirements.
- Third, the MSC will leapfrog available information
infrastructures with 2.5-10 gigabit Open Multimedia
Network that will use the latest ATM switches to provide
fiber to the building. This network will have a five
gigabit international gateway with direct links to the
U.S., Japan, Europe, and other ASEAN countries. This
will be operational by 1998. Value-added service
providers will be able to compete freely on this network
with no restrictions on foreign ownership and cost-based
interconnect tariffs. Telekom Malaysia has committed to
offer competitive tariffs that are comparable or better
than other global carriers and will provide world class
network performance standards.
- Fourth, a fully empowered one-stop shop called the
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) has been
created to manage and market the MSC. The mission of
the MDC is to create the best environment in the world
for private sector companies to pursue multimedia
businesses. The MDC will be opening ten offices around
the world over the next two years so it can be close to
the companies who will be its clients. In addition, the
MDC has been incorporated under the Companies Act so it
will have the required responsiveness and not be
constrained by bureaucratic practices. The MDC has a
free hand to hire the best people in the world, and a
business plan to serve the needs of companies relocating
to the MSC both before and after they decide to
establish operations in Malaysia. The Deputy Prime
Minister and I will personally oversee the activities of
the MDC and will resolve issues brought to our
attention.
13. In short, Malaysia and its Government is taking a
single-minded approach to developing the country using
the new tools offered by the Digital Age. The MSC is a
pilot project for harmonising our entire country with
the global forces shaping the Information Age. Phase 1
involves making the MSC a success by learning from our
partners and from the experience we gain; Phase 2 will
link up with other islands of excellence within
Malaysia; and Phase 3 involves making all of Malaysia a
Multimedia Super-Corridor that is connected to other
smart-regions around the world. I expect Malaysia to be
in the final phase by 2020 as we become a developed
nation.
14. To meet the needs of leading multimedia and
entertainment companies, Malaysia is offering a ten
point Multimedia Bill of Guarantees. The Government of
Malaysia formally commits the following to all companies
receiving MSC Status from the Multimedia Development
Corporation:-
a. Malaysia will provide a world-class physical and
information infrastructure;
b. Malaysia will allow unrestricted hiring and entry of
foreign knowledge workers in the MSC with no
employment restrictions;
c. Malaysia will ensure freedom of ownership of IT
companies located in the Corridor;
d. Malaysia will allow freedom of sourcing capital
globally for MSC infrastructure and freedom to
borrow funds anywhere;
e. Malaysia will provide competitive financial
incentives including no income tax or an investment
tax allowance for up to ten years, and no duties
on the import of multimedia equipment;
f. The MSC will become a regional leader in intellectual
property protection and cyberlaws;
g. Malaysia will ensure no censorship of the Internet;
h. The MSC will have globally competitive telecoms
tariffs;
i. Malaysia will tender key MSC infrastructure contracts
to leading companies willing to use the MSC as their
regional hub; and
j. Malaysia will provide a high powered implementation
agency to act as an effective `one-stop shop' to ensure
the MSC meets company needs.
15. The Multimedia Development Corporation is
registering interested companies and will be taking
formal applications for companies seeking `MSC Status'
in March. This entitles the company to the financial
incentives and the Multimedia Bill of Guarantees
described above if the new operations of the company are
located in a designated city such as Cyberjaya.
16. I hope you will consider becoming our partners in
this exciting endeavor to build the world's best
environment for multimedia and digital entertainment.
Hollywood is the undisputed movie capital of the world.
Working together, it may be possible to expand this into
other realms such as games or interactive entertainment.
Although technology and information will move more and
more freely over the coming decades, the scarce resource
will always be creativity. Since you have this in
abundance, I hope we can connect and use some of it to
define the frontier of multicultural content creation in
the Digital Age.
17. Now that you have heard some of my thoughts, I look
forward to listening to yours.
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